Even as the world changed around him, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il remained firmly in control, ruling absolutely at home and keeping the rest of the world on edge through a nuclear weapons program.Inheriting power from his father in 1994, he led his nation through a devastating famine while frust

Vaclav Havel wove theater into revolution, leading the charge to peacefully bring down communism in a regime he ridiculed as "Absurdistan" and proving the power of the people to overcome totalitarian rule.Shy and bookish, with a wispy mustache and unkempt hair, the dissident playwright was an unlike

A majority of adults say President Barack Obama does not deserve a second term but are evenly divided on whether he will win re-election next year, says a new Associated Press-GfK poll that highlights some of the campaign obstacles he faces.Although the public would prefer Obama be voted out of offi

By all measures, 2011 was a big year for international news. It may go down in the history books for being as transformative as 1989, when the Soviet Empire fell.Mass protests transformed the Middle East. The sovereign debt crisis is torching the Eurozone. Let’s not forget Fukishima. Occupy. Osama.

City Hall was tense Thursday and more political maneuvering was expected Friday. Aldermen have been fighting for electoral survival as they redraw the city’s ward boundaries, which they have to do every 10 years using new census data.